The Insider is a political and business bulletin about Zimbabwe, edited by Charles Rukuni. Founded in 1990, it was a printed 12-page subscription only newsletter until 2003 when Zimbabwe's hyper-inflation made it impossible to continue printing.

Mujuru is right-ZANU-PF was not ready for a female president

Former Vice-President Joice Mujuru, now leader of the National People’s Party could take a hint from advice to divorced couples offered on nakeddivorce.com.

“It doesn’t matter how much time you devote to dwelling in the past, the present is still the present,” it says.

“And if you don’t stop wallowing and start living, you won’t just have lost out on yesterday – you’ll lose today, too.”

Mujuru has been whining too much about how she could have become president but was thwarted by male chauvinists who were aided by some female accomplices.

According to the Daily News, Mujuru told a conference in Ghana that she was almost about to clinch the post of president but was thwarted at the last minute.

“When I was almost getting the presidency, as vice president of the Republic of Zimbabwe, the world of male chauvinists could not have any of that,” she was quoted as saying.

“They went on to break their own laws just to get rid of me and sadly, they found willing women accomplices to complete their task.”

It is not clear how this will help her campaign as leader of the NPP, but history tells a different story.

The Zimbabwe African National Congress was not ready for a female president even before they elected Mujuru vice-president of the party in 2009, according to United States embassy officials.

“Conventional analysis posits that there are two principal factions within ZANU-PF, Mujuru and Mnangagwa, and that the dominant faction is likely to provide the successor to Mugabe,” the embassy wrote in a cable dispatched on 8 December 2009.

“Over the years, as Mugabe has manipulated party politics, the fortunes of one have risen with the decline of the other.

“For now, the Mujuru faction is in the ascendancy.

“But it appears unlikely that either Mujuru or Mnangagwa will eventually become president.

“ZANU-PF, according to most analysts, is not ready to accept a woman as president. And Mugabe has made clear by his actions that his successor will be a Zezuru.”

The question to ask is: Was ZANU-PF ready for a female president in 2014?

Better still, with some touting First Lady Grace Mugabe as a potential successor, is the party now ready for a female president?

The Insider is a political and business bulletin about Zimbabwe, edited by Charles Rukuni. Founded in 1990, it was a printed 12-page subscription only newsletter until 2003 when Zimbabwe's hyper-inflation made it impossible to continue printing.